'Dissecting the bird to articulate the song': exploring the nature of teaching and learning poetry in the Irish leaving certificate classroom

Abstract:

Motivated by the conviction that listening to pupils’ and teachers’ perspectives enables the
researcher to gain a deeper understanding of teaching and learning processes, this research
explores the nature and provision of poetry at Leaving Certificate level in Ireland. It draws
on research conducted over a four year period from 2007-2011 with 80 practising Leaving
Certificate poetry teachers and 200 Leaving Certificate pupils of poetry. Set against a
backdrop of educational consumerism, this research identifies a number of areas of concern
for educators including; a narrowing of the curricula, a traditionalist approach to pedagogy,
widespread teacher dissonance and pupil disengagement in addition to a ubiquitous teaching
to the test ideology at Leaving Certificate level. Drawing on the research findings, it is
argued that poetry is vulnerable to becoming a marginalised and technicised endeavour in
the Leaving Certificate classroom. Recommendations for renewed teacher agency are
proposed in striving to renew a critical and creative approach to poetry pedagogy in schools.

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